Double-tap drone strike on Kryvyi Rih shopping centre kills 14

A Russian double-tap drone strike on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has killed at least 14 people and injured 121 others, local officials have confirmed. The attack, which occurred during the daytime on Friday, struck the city’s largest commercial hub, with a second drone reportedly targeting emergency workers already on the scene.

Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha stated that 29 of the injured are in serious condition, while 22 children were among those wounded. He noted that the death toll is expected to rise, as rescuers from four other Ukrainian regions are being urgently deployed to search for survivors trapped in the rubble.

Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul described the Russian drones as flying at "extremely low altitudes" and said there are missing people who are not responding to calls. The incident occurred in the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who characterised the sequence of events as "absolutely cynical and despicable".

Zelensky alleged that the second strike was a "double-tap" strategy intended to hit emergency responders half an hour after the initial impact. Footage verified by the BBC shows the second drone striking the already burning shopping centre in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Russia’s military has not yet commented on the strike.

The incident follows a major Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv the previous day, which killed 17 people and injured more than 40. Blocks of flats, warehouses, a children’s hospital, and a school were damaged in the overnight strikes on the capital.

Ukraine has recently intensified its own long-range campaigns against Russian infrastructure, including oil refineries and warehouses of the online retailer Wildberries, which Kyiv describes as legitimate targets financing the war. This comes as Moscow continues to control about a fifth of Ukrainian territory in the south-east since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.